Gabon: opponent Guy Nzouba-Ndama arrested at the border with suitcases filled with banknotes

The former president of the perch in the Gabonese National Assembly Guy Nzouba-Ndama, here, in Libreville on June 24, 2016. © Samir Tounsi / AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

The former president of the Gabonese National Assembly, Guy Nzouba-Ndama, was arrested on Saturday, September 17, with suitcases filled with banknotes, or more than one billion CFA francs according to the government daily

L'Union

.

Passed to the opposition since 2016 after having slammed the door of the ruling party, Guy Nzouba-Ndama was placed in police custody in Franceville (South-East), after being arrested at the border between Gabon and Congo-Brazzaville .

The case is controversial on social networks.

Advertising

Read more

With our correspondent in Libreville,

Yves-Laurent Goma.

The

video quickly flooded social networks

 : we see Guy Nzouba-Ndama in front of his SUV, with four suitcases placed in the back, and gendarmes forcing the padlocks.

Inside: wads of notes of 10,000 CFA francs in the hundreds of thousands.

How many were there altogether?

According

to the government daily

L'Union

, the opponent was carrying 1.19 billion CFA francs (77 million euros) as he returned from a short stay in Congo-Brazzaville.

He was then taken to a police station where he was taken into custody.

Released

According to the Gabonese Press Agency, he was released overnight, his money also being returned to him.

He would have returned to Koulamoutou, his political stronghold.

For the moment, the authorities remain silent on this case.

Just like

his party, the Democrats

.

Where did all this money come from and what was it intended for?

So many unanswered questions for the moment.

Aged 76, Guy Nzouba-Ndama is one of the

potential candidates

for the presidential election scheduled for next year.

 To read also: 

Gabon: does Ali Bongo want to run for a third term next year?

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

  • Gabon

  • Justice